Stationary overheating devices and rail brake locating devices in railway installations should be checked according to the pertinent regulations at certain time intervals as to their proper operation. At the present time infrared transmitters are used for such a checking which are designed as a heating rod or heating plate and are attached in the immediate vicinity of the wheel set. The infrared transmitters are actuated as required via a current source. The operation control is subject to a series of disturbance factors and, in particular, to distortions by air currents, and the measuring apparatus itself can only be calibrated with difficulty by being placed directly on the wheel set. A further stationary infrared testing apparatus is currently mounted onto the overheating locating device so that there is a corresponding radiation of the heating plate. Only the overheating locating device or the rail brake locating device can be checked with such an apparatus since the testing apparatus must be repositioned in each instance for different beam angles. Moreover, the known apparatuses exhibit a relatively great overall height so that testing is possible only during train stops.
The invention has the objective of further developing a testing apparatus of the initially mentioned type in such a manner that several operations and different geometries of overheating locating devices and of rail brake locating devices can be reliably detected with a single apparatus. Furthermore, the invention has the objective of making it possible to test during travel and, in addition, making automatic readjusting possible by also using the rail electronics and the evaluation electronics of the overheating locating device and of the rail brake locating device.